Matt Chojnacki

Matt Chojnacki was a freestyle aerialist who competed at the 1998 Nagano Winter Olympics. Chojnacki was on the US ski team from 1995-2001, and was the 1998 US Champion in aerials. In 1999 at Steamboat Springs, Colorado Chojnacki became the first person to land a quadruple back somersault with two twists with a clean landing. Later in 1999 he completed a triple twisting quad somersault, equaling a 17-year-old record.

Chojnacki left competition for academic pursuits. He graduated from the University of Colorado in 2004, with degrees in physics and planetary science. He earned his PhD in planetary geology and remote sensing in 2013 from the University of Tennessee.

Chojkacki then joined the Lunar and Planetary Laboratory (LPL) at the University of Arizona, where he worked on High Resolution Imaging Science Experiment (HiRISE) science team. His work entailed processing new images and data analysis from HiRISE, onboard the Mars Reconnaissance Orbiter (MRO) and other data sets in an attempt to better understand the Martian planet.